"No, no, I won't listen, I won't listen. I don't want your truth or your untruth. Do you hear me? I don't want you to talk like that to me."
"Well, well! Look at her flaring up! Oh, you romp! Suppose we go in to tea while the drinking is good. I suppose the samovar is making music on the table by now."
Porfiry Vladimirych wanted by joke and jest to make amends for having said "playing the clown," and even tried to embrace her as a sign of reconciliation. But it all seemed so stupid to Anninka, so abominable, that she declined his advance with repugnance.
"I tell you seriously, uncle, I am in a hurry," she said.
"Well, then, let's go and have tea first, then we'll talk."
"But why talk after tea? Why not now?"
"Because. Because everything has got to be done in its proper time. First one, then the other, first we'll have tea and a chat, then we'll talk business. Plenty of time."
She could not help but yield. His prattle was not to be overcome. They went in to tea, and Yudushka temporized maliciously, sipping his tea with deliberation, crossing himself, slapping his thigh, babbling about his late mother dear, and so on.
"Well, now we can talk," he said at last. "Do you intend making a long visit here?"
"Not more than a week. I have to be in Moscow before returning to the company."